fitting new sills to a 1932 RP

[Smiley]

Hi Folks, has any body out there fitted new sills to an 1932 RP.  Is there an INNER sill.?
The sills on my RP have been replaced at some time and whilst grovelling underneath
recently I noticed what appeared to be an inner sill badly butchered.
I am wondering if new sills have been fitted over the top of the original ones and could
this be the cause of the doors sticking out at the bottom.

[Martin Prior]

Hi Folks, has any body out there fitted new sills to an 1932 RP.  Is there an INNER sill.?
The sills on my RP have been replaced at some time and whilst grovelling underneath
recently I noticed what appeared to be an inner sill badly butchered.
I am wondering if new sills have been fitted over the top of the original ones and could
this be the cause of the doors sticking out at the bottom.

If the running boards are of the standard RP pattern, with an upstand against the cill, the it's unlikely that any repairs to your cills are the cause of the doors not fitting properly.

Much more likely is that the door frames have been badly repaired at some point.  The RP door is a strange thing, with the lower corner on the lock side tapering down to a thickness of about 1/2".  The alternative is that your car has doors from an RN, which are about 1 1/4"  thick at the same point.

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Hi Folks, has any body out there fitted new sills to an 1932 RP.  Is there an INNER sill.?
The sills on my RP have been replaced at some time and whilst grovelling underneath
recently I noticed what appeared to be an inner sill badly butchered.
I am wondering if new sills have been fitted over the top of the original ones and could
this be the cause of the doors sticking out at the bottom.

With the running board removed the inner cill should look like this.........

[Smiley]

Thanks Martin, That could well be the problem as the doors are fouling the the inside upstand.
I will check the door dimensions at that point.
Cheers.

[Bob Culver]

Every time Martin publishes those marvellous door interior photos I cringe at the thought of the crudities hiding behind the panels in my car. 

The whole assembly with glass weighs about four times 1980s equivalent! Hidden in the photos is a large chunk of armour plate. I wonder if the designer received a bonus, or was fired. Here cars fail w.o.f for any rust in doors as in a crash  it supposedly weakens seriously the very heavy gauge metal. Yet doors only held on with woodscrews!

It is sobering to reflect that cars as original had nothing to stop rainwater soaking all the woodwork. It was not envisaged that cars still running around 80 years on.

Anyone repairing sills needs to note that these play a major part in supporting the rear of the body. Door apertures should  be correct shape before welding all solid.

[Martin Prior]

Every time Martin publishes those marvellous door interior photos I cringe at the thought of the crudities hiding behind the panels in my car. 

The whole assembly with glass weighs about four times 1980s equivalent! Hidden in the photos is a large chunk of armour plate. I wonder if the designer received a bonus, or was fired. Here cars fail w.o.f for any rust in doors as in a crash  it supposedly weakens seriously the very heavy gauge metal. Yet doors only held on with woodscrews!

It is sobering to reflect that cars as original had nothing to stop rainwater soaking all the woodwork. It was not envisaged that cars still running around 80 years on.

Anyone repairing sills needs to note that these play a major part in supporting the rear of the body. Door apertures should  be correct shape before welding all solid.

Just for you, Bob, a picture of the "Armour plate"!  It is, of course, key to the whole crappy design working at all, as this has to be crimped into the bottom fold of the door skin to keep the whole thing in shape.  Firing was too gentle a fate for whoever thought this one up!

[Bob Culver]

RP owners, savour the photos. The chances of ever encountering an original not rotted away to dust or crudely repaired are nil! (Although I suspect Martin's are considerably more refined than the originals. If I had them in my car I would varnish and leave the door panels off!)
Another curiosity with the RP deluxe doors is the way the door panel is enticed to fit over the winder mechanism cover.

[Martin Prior]

RP owners, savour the photos. The chances of ever encountering an original not rotted away to dust or crudely repaired are nil! (Although I suspect Martin's are considerably more refined than the originals. If I had them in my car I would varnish and leave the door panels off!)

Thanks, Bob!

Another curiosity with the RP deluxe doors is the way the door panel is enticed to fit over the winder mechanism cover.

......or not!  I've never understood how that is supposed to work tidily!

[Smiley]

Hi Martin, Ref your suggestion that I might have the doors of an RN on my RP, I have checked and I do have the correct doors. It would appear that the problem of the doors stick out at the bottom,goes a bit deeper. Cheers.

[Martin Prior]

Hi Martin, Ref your suggestion that I might have the doors of an RN on my RP, I have checked and I do have the correct doors. It would appear that the problem of the doors stick out at the bottom,goes a bit deeper. Cheers.

In that case you need to work out where the problem lies before doing anything drastic.  Have there been any major sheet-metal repairs to the bottoms of the A and/or B-posts?  

If the A-post looks OK, make a full-length template of its profile - the top 2/3 should be more-or less dead straight, with a continuous, gentle curve inwards for the lower 1/3, so that it throws in by 3/8" at the bottom.  If it doesn't do this, then repairs will be necessary before you think about the doors themselves.

If you're happy with the A-post, check your template against the leading and trailing edges of the doors and against the B-post.  They should all have identical profiles.  

Now make a horizontal template off the waistline of a door.  The top and bottom profiles of the doors should match this.

Hopefully, you'll then know where the problem(s) is(are).  My guess is that the bottoms of the B-posts will be out and the door frames will prove to have been badly repaired.  

New frame kits are available, but I'd better not push the commercial any further!

[Smiley]

Thanks for the advice Martin, I'll have a go and investigate further and let you know what I find. Cheers